The present invention is related to a housing structure of a connector. When demolded, the housing is prevented from deforming. In addition, the injected material can be better conducted to ensure good quality of the product and lower manufacturing cost.
It is a trend to minimize the volume of computers and electronic products. Accordingly, various mini-connectors are used in such computers and electronic products. Numerous terminals are densely accommodated in a very small space of the mini-connector so that the pitch between the terminals is very small. As a result, it is harder and harder to process and manufacture the fine parts of the connector. For example, it is hard to form the slender terminal and keep it resilient and rigid. In addition, it is hard by injection molding to manufacture the housing of the connector with precise dimension.
FIG. 1 is a bottom view showing the housing of a conventional connector. Two lateral sides of the housing 4 are formed with multiple densely arranged terminal channels 41 separated by ribs 42. The central portion (generally of the bottom side) of the housing 4 is formed with a hollow section 43 for saving injection material. A spacing section 44 with a certain width is reserved between the hollow section 43 and the terminal channels 41 (or the ribs 42) for stopping the inserted terminals and connecting the ribs 42 by a certain strength. The terminal channels 41 are formed in such a manner that multiple parallel core pins are extended into the mold. After the material is injected and molded, the terminal channels 41 are formed in the positions of the core pins. The gaps between the core pins naturally form the ribs 42 after molded. Following the reduction of the volume of the connector, the pitch of the terminals, the width of the terminal channels 41 and the thickness of the ribs 42 are minimized. Accordingly, the core pins are quite slender and thin and the gap between the core pins is extremely small. As a result, when molding the housing 4, the material can be hardly smoothly conducted into the gap between the core pins. Moreover, only the very narrow spacing section 44 serves as the flow way through which the injected material is conducted to the positions of the ribs 42 around the hollow section 43. Therefore, it is even harder to conduct the material. In order to avoid defective or deformed product resulting from poor flowability and conduction of the injected material, generally the injection pressure is increased. By means of the greater pressure, the injected material can fully flow into the gap between the core pins to form the rib 42. However, the excessively great injection pressure is very easy to bend and deform the core pins and thus affect the dimensional precision of the product of the housing 4. In addition, the great pressure makes it necessary to frequently service the mold and the cost is increased. Also, the using life of the mold is shortened. Therefore, it is necessary to design an optimal flow way to reduce the injection pressure and eliminate the above problems.
It is therefore a primary object of the present invention to provide a housing structure of a connector. A central portion of the housing is recessed to form a hollow section. At least one central rib is longitudinally formed in the hollow section. Two sides of the central rib are formed with multiple laterally extending reinforcing ribs opposite to each other. By means of the central rib and the reinforcing ribs, the periphery of the hollow section of the housing is prevented from deforming when demolded. In addition, the reinforcing ribs also serve to conduct the material and enhance the flowability of the injected material. Therefore, the injection pressure can be reduced to minimize damage of the mold.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide the above housing structure in which an end section of each reinforcing rib connecting with the periphery of the hollow section is tapered to form a narrowed section. The narrowed section avoids contraction after cooled due to excessive thickness. Therefore, the precision of the dimension of respective parts of the housing can be ensured.